A beauty blog blooming with fresh makeup reviews, swatches and beauty tips from your friendly neighborhood beauty addict
Ladies, I’ve seen the light! They’re big, bright, and high above the beauty section at your nearby Costco store. 🙂
Do you do Costco? On a recent trip I picked up a $12 pack of their Kirkland Daily Facial Cleansing Towelettes, and now I’m kicking myself for not trying them sooner.
My Costco card…
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Greetings, loved ones, from one of my favorite places in makeup-ville: the land of cheap drugstore mascara.
This time I’m here with Rimmel Sexy Curves Full Volume & Curve Waterproof Mascara ($7.50)…but we aren’t exactly best buds. As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for how well Sexy Curves lasts on wet lashes, we probably wouldn’t be friends at all.
I applied some before my workout yesterday, a sweaty 30-minute run on the treadmill, and it didn’t even budge. No smudging or flaking to speak of, and my lashes stayed deep, dark and black after every mile.
We’re almost there. That’s it up ahead — the Monday finish line — and we’re about to cross it together. 🙂
How was your day? Good, I hope.
Mine wasn’t bad as far as Mondays go. I rode my bike for the first time in forever over my lunch break (hello, sore booty!) and had a grand old time experimenting with the new NARS Daphne eyeshadow.
Remember it from the NARS fall 2010 collection? The pretty purple girl?
NARS Daphne eyeshadow
Oh, she’s quite the charmer… If you like sheer purple matte shadows, beware; she could rock your boat. I took her out for a spin today, and now I’m smitten.
The first thing I did was find my flat eyeshadow brush…which turned out to be the hardest part of this look (it was hiding in a purse)! With the brush (a MAC 239), I packed several layers of Daphne on my lids, drawing the color up into the crease. Next, I swept the shimmery golden brown side from the NARS Rajasthan duo, another new product for fall, into the crease and up a bit to the brow bone (I like how the shimmer contrasts with Daphne’s matte finish).
Then, to define the whole eye and tie it all together, I lined the upper lash line with the shimmery dark blue shadow from the same duo (Rajasthan), and lined the lower lash line with Coconut Grove (another eyeshadow from the fall collection).
Smokey purple eyes without coordinating cheeks and lips are like Salt without Pepa, or Keith without sweat. To make sure Daphne wouldn’t feel lonely, I brushed NARS Sin blush onto my cheeks and a mix of NARS Strawberry Fields and NARS Greek Holiday lipglosses on my lips (Question: Do you ever wear multiple lipgloss colors?).
Rajasthan eyeshadow duo
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Sula Paint & Peel Polish in Watermelon ($9). The bottle says:
Apply two-to-three coats to clean, naked nails. Avoid contact with hot water for four hours. For long-lasting color, apply Sula’s Lasting Love Top Coat. Peel off when desired. No polish remover required!
I think the concept is kinda interesting. Have you tried any of these polishes?
Indie perfume line Saffron James wraps their scents in the most exquisite packaging! I wore their ‘Ume Fragrance ($85) over the weekend. With notes of white ginger and gardenia, the scent totally reminds me of Hawaii.
Red lips are just so…classic, aren’t they? They never go out of style. You can dress ’em up, maybe with your best business suit or ball gown, or dress ’em down with a bikini and high heels.
Yes, you read that right. 🙂
At the Ed Hardy show on Saturday in Miami, models tested the bikini/red lippie theory on the runways at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week: Swim.
Make Up For Ever sponsored the makeup for the shows (check out their Facebook page here), which wrap up today. Their artists turned up the heat on Miami with sooty smokey eyes created with the Aqua Cream shadows.
Aqua Creams in action at the Ed Hardy show
Would you ever wear this look? Maybe to a Beach party, perhaps? What if you won a set of Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream Shadows today?
To brighten your Monday Miami-style, Make Up For Ever has another fantabulous Miami Fashion Week prize package for us featuring FIVE MORE of the Aqua Creams for lips & cheeks (a $110 value).
One lucky lady (or gent) will win ALL of the following Aqua Cream Shadows:
One (1) Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Fresh Pink, a bright pink for lips and cheeks ($22)
One (1) Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Fuchsia, a hot pink for lips and cheeks ($22)
One (1) Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Red, a tomato red for lips and cheeks ($22)
One (1) Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Coral, a bright coral for lips and cheeks ($22)
One (1) Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Orange, a golden tangerine for lips and cheeks ($22)
Fresh Pink
Fuchsia
Red
Coral
Orange
Entering is easy. There are two different ways, and you can do both of them for two chances to win.
Follow @karenmbb and RT to win $110 in @makeupforeverus Aqua Creams http://bit.ly/9SUny6
My favorite Make Up For Ever product? Right now, it’s gotta be Peach Aqua Cream; it makes quick work of quick looks. I love the pigmentation (SO INTENSE!) and how I can use it on my cheeks and my lips (see my review here).
I’ll pick the winner at random from among the people who enter by 11:59 p.m. PST on Monday, July 19 (that’s today).
Good luck!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. And don’t forget to enter the NYX cosmetics/AMEX gift card giveaway (the $200 card’s good anywhere that takes American Express, i.e. Sephora, Macy’s, Ulta, etc.). It’s a big ol’ $322 prize package.
Great! I slept soundly last night (it’s a Christmas miracle!). The sun is shining, Tabs is behaving (for once), and I’m drinking a delicious cup o’ tea. Sometimes it’s all about the simple pleasures, ya know?
Eclectic. Wearable. Easy.
Hmm… This one’s tough because I’m a city girl at heart. It would either be San Francisco (I’m still plotting to move the family back there someday), Paris or Honolulu.
Whenever you fall, just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going.
Professional money spender. Seriously!
The freedom to set my own schedule, although I don’t take advantage of it very often.
Use Wet Ones antibacterial wipes to quickly clean your makeup brushes.
Find something/someone to care for.
A blue and white print sundress and a red cardigan with pearl buttons.
Do cardio at least three times before the next Sundays with Tabs, organize a different part of my office every day, and get to bed by 10!
Looks like it’s that time again, ladies — the start of what WILL be a great week for us all. 🙂
Do you have a minute to take the Monday Poll with me? If you do, just copy the following list, and paste it with your answers in the comments.
1. Mood:
2. Your makeup style in three words:
3. If you were to move to a big city, which city would it be?
4. Do you have a personal motto?
5. What’s your dream job?
6. Your favorite part of your job?
7. What’s the first makeup or beauty tip that comes to mind?
8. What’s the first non-beauty tip that comes to mind?
9. What are you wearing?
10. Weekly goals:
One of the best things about Mondays is that they never last more than 24 hours, ha! It’ll be Tuesday before we know it.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. If you’re new here, thank you for visiting. Makeup and Beauty Blog is a makeup blog with daily product reviews, beauty tips, giveaways and the random shenanigans of a crazy cat lady/makeup enthusiast named Karen (that’s me!). 🙂
Another busy week for cat models, y’all! My tubby tabby was all over the map. He had modeling gigs in So Cal (Urban Decay, NYX), Italy (D&G), New York (Fusion Beauty) and Dar es Salaam (the Smashbox job).
I miss him when he’s busy like this, but at least he’s back for the weekend. He’s chillaxin’ on the couch (still jet-lagged). We might go get a salad in a little while. I don’t know if you heard, but the Whole Foods salad bar has catnip now. 🙂
“I spent 11 hours in the chair getting my hair and makeup done for this shoot.” – Tabs
